In today's technologically advanced society, electronics are widespread and are found in many shapes and sizes. Particularly, computers, cell phones, and PDA's have found their way into virtually every home and office.
All electronic devices require many integral components in order to function. Generally, most electronic devices require a circuit board which contains many micro-devices such as processors, resistors, transistors and regulators. A number of these and other electronic components generate heat, particularly high power consuming components such as central processing unit (CPU). Significant amounts of heat can be detrimental to electronic devices by, for example, causing burn out or shorting, and ultimately reducing the longevity thereof.
A number of heat dissipating devices have been introduced in an effort to remove heat generated by the components of an electronic device. Examples of such heat moving devices include fans, heat spreaders, and heat sinks, among others. Despite the effectiveness of such devices in removing heat from the specific heat generating components of the electronic device, the build up of heat inside the device as a whole typically continues due to the inability of the device housing, or casing, to effectively transfer heat out of the device completely. One specific way in which this issue has been addressed is by using a fan. Case fans are typically mounted inside the device, for example a computer, with the fan blades positioned to expel hot air out of the case and into the surrounding environment. Generally, a computer case will include several case fans, positioned mainly in the front of the case and also in the back of the case, such positioning allows for a continuous air flow to pass through the case, thus decreasing the internal temperature. Recently, others have placed case fans on the top and sides of the case to force the air out from all directions.
These methods have a number of limitations. First of all, the internal case fans generate heat during operation, therefore the case fans actually add to the overall temperature inside the device housing. Furthermore, they require energy to work. The energy is drawn from the on-board power supply, thereby increasing the overall operation cost of the computer. In addition, since case fans involve moving parts, inevitably noise levels will increase which could be annoying and bothersome to the user.
As such, simple, efficient systems or devices which can decrease the internal temperature of an electronic device which requires little or no energy to cool the device continues to be sought through on-going research and development efforts.